Live From New York, It’s Just For Laughs!

Published by Sara Dahms at August 6, 2021

Just for Laughs comedy festival has been bringing the funny for 39 years and nothing, not even a global pandemic, can stop them. Last summer, when all tours and festivals were either postponed or cancelled, the team at Just for Laughs remained flexible and decided that the show must go on. They filmed their programming remotely and streamed it online for the world to enjoy for free. This summer, the world has shifted yet again, only this time in the direction of progress. So, Just for Laughs made yet another epic adjustment and for the first time ever, they went hybrid and took the comedy festival that’s traditionally set in Montreal and spread it out over three cities. They filmed shows in front of live audiences in New York, Los Angeles and Montreal, then streamed them onto the internet for viewers to enjoy for free at www.hahaha.com. “Live in NY” and “The Nasty Show” were scheduled to be shot in New York and The Stand Comedy Club and Restaurant was chosen to be the east coast hub and have the two shows filmed there. The Stand is a beautiful venue that was literally built to host events such as this and there was no way I was going to miss it!

“Live from NY” was a showcase style comedy show that was hosted by Dulce Sloan and featured Michael Kosta, Todd Barry, Marina Franklin, Jessica Kirson, Josh Johnson and Emma Willmann. Dulce Sloan, Michael Kosta and Josh Johnson all work together on “The Daily Show” but had very different styles of comedy which was super fun to watch. I’ve seen Dulce perform and bring down the house on “The Goddamn Comedy Jam” at Just for Laughs in Montreal but I had never seen her, or her fellow “Daily Show” cast members, perform stand-up. Dulce Sloan radiated with confidence and had a nice mix of stories and jokes that kept the show moving and the energy high. I loved her story about the bike messenger who brought out her inner Karen. Hilarious! Michael Kosta and Josh Johnson were equally as funny as Dulce, but Michael Kosta leaned toward more self-deprecating humor and had jokes that were a little darker in theme (which I love) than his fellow “Daily Show” correspondents while Josh Johnson had a very chill vibe and told jokes that made you think. One of my favorite jokes by Josh Johnson was about people either believing in science or religious and the benefits in believing in one over the other. I had an insightful conversation with Josh outside The Stand after the show and we talked about this bit. I learned that Josh thinks that there’s room for people to believe in both science and religion but went with this premise for the good of the joke. This was an excellent example of how one of the soul purpose’s of a comedian is to write jokes and the sole purpose of a joke is to elicit laugher so even the sincerest sounding bit does not necessarily represent the actual feelings and beliefs of the comedian who wrote it.

Todd Barry is another comedian with a very chill vibe and he kills every time I see him. Whether he’s talking about watching YouTube videos about hot sauce reviews, getting the vaccine or just riffing in the moment and doing some crowd work, Todd Berry has fully embraced his inner critic and mastered the art of being quietly cunning while delivering perfectly written jokes that always get big laughs and while I’m focused on trying to stay positive, I’m happy to have Todd Barry there to say wickedly snarky remarks so that I don’t have to. Emma Willmann has great energy, isn’t afraid to talk about taboo subjects and is one of my favorites. Emma’s self-deprecating humor and ability to tell you all the things wrong with her then win you over because of them is genius and her jokes about “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” and her “special needs” uncle killed me! I love the way her mind works!

Marina Franklin and Jessica Kirson were two of the biggest killers of the entire night for me. I was lucky enough to see Marina live at Just for Laughs in Montreal when she was on “New Faces” in 2019. She killed it then and she killed it again in New York. Marina’s entire set was fire but her take on pronouns and her jokes about her love life and the illicit experience she had on the subway had me dying! I’m so glad she was invited back to JFL for “Live in NY” and I hope there will be many more opportunities for her to work with Just for Laughs in the future. Jessica Kirson closed the show, and she was the perfect comedian for the job! Jessica doesn’t do comedy, Jessica is comedy. She walks on stage and just radiates comedy from every fiber of her being. She has written material that is ridiculously funny but is a genius in that you can also see her riffing and creating jokes right there, in the moment both with the crowd or on anything in the room that strikes her because the art of comedy is always coursing through her and she knows exactly how to harness it and spin it into comedy gold, right there in the moment. She is a master of her craft and her crowd work and jokes about parenthood, plastic surgery and her sexuality where some of the highlights from her set for me. She is truly amazing.

You can watch for yourself, right from home by going to hahaha.com or just click the video below through August 31.